Air-controlling attachment



F. SCHWARZER.

m comaouma ATTACHMENT. 'APPLICATION FILED DEC-3|- I918.

' ,332, 363 Patented Mar. 2, 1920.

INVENTOR:

by m m v FRITZ SGHWARZER, OF ST. GrALLEN, SWITZERLAND.

AIR-CONTROLLING ATTACHMENT.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 2, 1920.

Application filed December 31, 1918. Serial No. 269,109.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRITZ Sor-rwanznn, citizen of the Swiss Confederation, and residing at St. Gallen, Switzerland, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Air-Controlling Attachments, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention has reference to certain new and useful improvements in means for supplying supplementary air to the intake manifold of an explosion engine, for the purpose of on the one hand controlling the amount of mixture passing into the cylinder or cylinders, and on the other hand for braking, in the case of an automobile engine, the idle running engine on a downgrade, and the invention essentially consists of an air intake valve in the shape of a cylindrical casing with a revoluble and raisable cover communicating with the intake manifold, for controllably allowing fresh air to pass into the manifold to therein mingle with the mixture flowing by just prior to entering the cylinder.

In most earbureters now in use the flow and richness of the mixture is so regulated that the minimum thereof just allows of starting the cold engine. But this fuel mininum is larger than the amount required for keeping the motor in operation after it has once heated up, and it is the main object of this invention to so control the mixture that the engine is kept going on the absolute fuel minimum. With this and the other stated object in view the device essentially consists of the construction, arrangement and cooperation of parts, as will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 represents a side elevation, partly in section, of the new air valve; Fig. 2 is a partial plan and section on line A-B of Fig. 1, and Fig. 3 illustrates diagrammatically the manner of conveniently mounting the device on an automobile.

The outwardly slightly tapering valve cup or casing 1 is provided below with a constricted tubular discharge nipple 2, and with a laterally extending bracket arm 3, by means of which'it can be secured for, instance to the bonnet i of an automobile e11- gine in front of the instrument board 5 within easy reach of the chauffeur, as shown in Fig. 3. The upper rim of the casing is beveled, as at 5, to present an annular knife edge 6, and a bridge member 7 extending diametrically across the interior of the easing, supports at its center an internally threaded boss 8.

The cover for the casing consists of the top plate 9 and the cylindrical wall 10, which for the purpose of rendering it yieldable to better grip the tapering casing wall, is provided with spaced-apart slits 11 running" out into round air ports 12, so that a plurality of contiguous elastic wall sections is presented, the lower rim of which is contracted to flatly contact with the casing wall, as clearly shown in Fig. 1. lVhen in its lowermost position on the casing the cover late 9 is in close contact all. around with t e annular knife edge 6 and the casing is sealed. If the cover is lifted, air can enter through the ports 12 and pass over the knife edge into the casing. For controlling the lifting movement of the cover it is rigidly secured to a threaded stud 13 whose lower end screws into the bridge boss 8, and a handle 14 is likewise rigidly secured to the cover. These parts may be assembled in any suitable manner, for instance as shown by way of example by providing the stud with an integral head 15 against which the handle 14L is screwed up tight, and the cover plate in turn against the handle.

The upper face of the cover plate is provided with a set of indicating marks 16 superscribed with the numerals 0-10. The

zero indicating the position of the cover relative to the casing in whichthe valve is closed to the passage of air, and the 10 indicating the widest open position of the valve, permitting a maximum of air to pass through. A pointer 17 rising from the support bracket 3 is designed to register with the marks 16.

The air valve is suitably connected to the intake manifold, for instance as shown in Fig. 3 by means of the connecting tube 18 and the branch member 19.

For additionally introducing air into the mixture flowing through the manifold, the motor is started and the handle 14 is actuated from the zero position, which lifts the valve cover off its knife edge seat 6 so that air can be sucked into the manifold. By this intake of supplementary air the flow of the main air throughthe carburetor is altered and controlled in such manner that the mixture supply can be held down to the absolute operative minimum, which, as stated before, is lower than that required for starting the motor, for which latter amount a power plant without my device must be arranged. The experimentally determined most favorable relative position of the Valve cover plate for a certain kind of fuel is to be noted and can then always be readily set again by the aid of the marks 16 and the pointer 17.

If the valve is to be used for braking purposes, the mixture feed is shut OE and the air valve is opened almost to the limit. The motor will then suck in fresh air only and compress it with braking effect. In the case of an automobile with the engine running idly on a downgrade the device can thus be used as air brake to more or less forcibly brake the motor down.

1. An attachment for additionally supplying air to an explosion engine for controlling the explosive mixture or for braking purposes, comprising in combination with the intake manifold of the engine, an outwardly slightly tapering casing present ing above an annular knife edge seat, a cover for said casing adapted to air-tightly contact with said annular seat, comprising a top plate, a cylindrical wall depending from said top plate and having air ports therethrough starting from the lower free rim of said cylindrical wall whereby the latter is divided into a plurality of resilient casing gripping sections, and means for controllably altering the distance between said annular casing seat and said cover.

2. An attachment for additionally supplying air to an explosive engine for controlling the explosive mixture or for braking purposes, comprising in combination with the intake manifold of the engine, a slightly tapering casing with a constricted tubular discharge nipple, the upper rim of this casing being beveled to present an annular knife edge seat, and means for operatlvely connecting said nipple to the manifold; a threaded boss and means for supindependently elastic casing wall gripping cover-sections are presented, the inner face of said top plate being designed to c'oiiperate with said knife edge seat, and means for operating said cover, comprising a threaded stud and a handle, both rigidly securable to said cover, and said stud threading in said center boss of the casing,

3. An attachment for additionally supplying air to an explosion engine for controlling the explosive mixture or for braking purposes, comprising in combination with the intake manifold of the engine, a casing whose upper rim is beveled topresent an annular knife edge seat, a constricted tubular discharge nipple to said casing, means for operatively connecting said nipple to the engine manifold, a threaded boss centrally supported within said casing, a cover for said casing, comprising atop plate 7 and a ported cylindrical wall adapted to elastically cooperate with said casing, the inner face of said to plate beingdesigned to cooperate with said knife edge seat, means for rotating-1y operating said cover relative 7 to said casing, comprising a threaded stud and a handle, both rigidly securable to said cover, and said stud threading into said casing center boss, and means for visibly indicating the adjustment of said cover relas1 tive to said casing, comprising indicating marks on the top face of said rotatablecover and fixed pointer means designed for cooperation with said marks.

FRITZ SCHWARZER. 

